to be in space
by Quilava the Maniacal
Summary: This is the story of Hugh Bramble. A man who runs a space station with the help of female androids. Things seem pretty straight forward at first, but in space... The every action has a reaction can be more than you may think. Especially on a galactic scale going to the personal scale.
1. Chapter 1

The sun rose slowly over the horizon.

Hugh peaked out the porthole, the space station was drifting along it's path as it was supposed to. The star it was being lit by was a bright blue

A dwarf star. The light pure and bright.

Hugh pushed against the window frame gently, letting newtons law do it's stuff he slowly floated along and found himself crawling along the rungs of the ladder heading from the crew quarters to the galley.

He was rather depressed. The only reason he had taken this job into orbit around the great dwarf was he wanted a steady job that he found rewarding. Or so he said to the camera's before launch.

He knew why he took it. He wanted to leave some sort of mark on history. Something that said he had existed. Or so he lied to himself. And so all alone on this space station he floated in 0g's.

Every day was the same: check the plants, check the animals, measure the distance between the space station and the nearest satellite, record the name and description of the nearest satellite.

It was repetitive but relatively safe. He also had to check life systems frequently. Every two hours, before he went into stasis, and when he felt ill or light headed.

Hugh was a rather skinny man. Not bone thin but not really able to be considered wiry either. Space had only lessened his diminutive weight.

Hugh was a cream colored man, about 5'9, and had soft red hair. His eyes were a soft brown and his hair was in a standard military cut as expected of the government. And he had bright green eyes.

Pushing off from the ladder he spun in midair before latching onto the railing of the bridge. The space station had several connecting ladder chutes running from top to bottom. There were plenty of routes to any where from anywhere.

Hugh was humanly alone in this place. The animals were safely dealt with by machines. His only real job was to be warden of his own floating prison.

Every now and then he would catch a report from home. Every now and again they would say something about him... But after not even a month he faded from their notice.

He had left no mark on history. And all he had done was escaped from home. Where he felt like a triviality to the other denizens of terra 5.

Terra 5 was a planet that had 3 others to back it up, allowing for someone like him to be allowed to live. An unremarkable specimen by any standards.

Terra 2-4 were in various semi hospitable solar systems. It had all started with the imminent destruction of the first terra... In the sol system. But that was taught in every history class.

And so Hugh, who had been sad and alone on Terra 5 had gone into space. With no gravity he was better able to do the tinkering he had done back home. He was a jack of all trades and master of none.

Hugh had been something of a minor repairman and IT guy around the space base. And it was this, plus his light weight, which had caused him to be chosen. All that had remained was his choice to do so. And so he had, leaving the only life he knew behind.

As he thought about what he left behind he started preparing food in the galley. Here he was, all alone on a space station meant to be crewed by some 20-30 people more qualified than him and he did everything on his own, granted he had been sent up with an artificial intelligence module to help monitor things. But mostly he did everything by himself.

He had been a primary participant on the ai project, the official title was Human Intellectual Nanocomputer Artifice. Or H.I.N.A for short. Hina had been programmed around Hugh's personality, he was an ideal person to have something designed around. He had flaws but he also had the proper knowledge. And together they had a sort of symbiotic relationship. They helped each other survive, learn, and grow in various ways.

Hugh had however given her something the boys at home hadn't, a voice modulator. Hina was technically no more than a program that could learn. The only inhibitors being that she couldn't kill without being directed to do so by certain authorized personnel.

Of course her program had no way of getting to the station at first, so they made several attempts at making a housing frame that could suit the purpose of her objectives.

Several remodels were made, streamlining the aerodynamics, thermal shielding, durable casting. Fiber optics to transmit data faster.

It all equated to a high tech android without a voice box. Complete with prehensile wiring so as to link up with various data ports. And even free wires for broken terminals.

In short, if Hugh were to describe Hina it would be of a white metal girl of about the age of 20, she was 5'6" making her shorter than Hugh at 5'8" but she did her job. Somehow during the entire frame building process the program had been running, allowing Hina to learn human culture and mannersisms.

Thankfully it had been more than the grease monkeys of the build team around, unfortunately Hina had only picked up on the humans who had interested her, such as the various daughters who had been visiting during the week of being built.

Hina had no casing and so had a limited reign on the bases controls, allowing Hina access to the cameras. The guards were baffled when they had over 100 hours of digital footage of what Hina considered 'tiny curiosities of the human world'.

And it had given Hina a... Well... A personality. "HUUUUUUUGH!" She whined as she floated through the air with her arms crossed. She wore a suit like Hugh did, for whatever reason she had picked up being clothed as a habit to follow as well.

Hugh sighed and looked at her, "Whats the status Hina?" He said with exasperation. He had one hand on the plate with his psuedo food, everything on the station had yet to come to fruition, and it would be another couple weeks until that point too.

Hina grabbed a stool and held on in order to stay seated, "why don't you smile more?" She said as concern etched her very human features.

Hugh looked down at his plate as he responded, "what reason have i to smile Hina? You're decent company but you have no real need for me up here." He said before taking a bite of the brownish protein paste he had tried to make better, it looked like refried beans, but it sure didn't taste like it, hugh thought with a grimace, "the food right now doesn't help either..."

Hina put one elbow on the counter and put her chin on it, "You know thats not true." She pouted as she ignored his distaste for the food paste.

He looked back up at her and then shifted his eyes away, why did she have boobs? She was a bot. He thought to himself, though he knew the answer obviously enough, data had to be stored somewhere and not all the banks could fit in her head, plus the guys in the shop were pretty wrong minded. They would do anything to screw around with Hugh.

Hina noticed where his eyes had gone and zipped her uniform up further, "sorry Hugh..." She said as a fake light blue blush colored her cheeks. She was designed to be able to act as human as possible, so long as she knew the precedent. And back home she had been given access to the only sources of human reaction possible, tv.

Various shows had been "watched" as a sort of way to teach human patterns to Hina. Unfortunately, or maybe not, one she seemed to find particularly interesting had been anime. And because of it, Hina had picked up some of the more common phrases in japan.

Out of the corner of his eye he studied her, as he had at least once a day, her upkeep was also a part of his problems but there was never an issue. Her skin was smooth white, with blue as an accent color. Almost like body paint if he had removed her suit he'd find stripes and outside fiber optics just set into the casting glowing as information traveled her dataways.

Coming back to reality he saw he pouting, he blue lower lip sticking out with the puppy dog eyes expression.

"What?" He said bluntly, unsure of what she wanted. He simply looked at her as a familiarity set in, nearly imperceptible except it was something you'd have to be dead to fail to notice. She had turned the gravity on.

He scowled before finishing his food paste, all the nutrients an astronaut could need, all in one convenient blech flavored paste.

Hina smiled let go of the stool, 3g's of gravity, just like on Terra 5. Now the lowest gravity planet in the group, but still 3 times the originals gravity.

Hugh huffed and turned his head as Hina's data drives settled lower in her suit, how the hell could those pervs give her liquid data storage. How wrong could they be?

Hina giggled and stood up. "Is there a problem Hugh?" She said with all the innocence she could muster.

Hugh put the plate in the sink and began washing it, his back turned to her he said gruffly, "you know damn well what it is Hina. Those dirty old mechanics gave you liquid storage breasts. BREASTS FOR NEO SAKE!" He said as he began scrubbing vigorously.

Hina walked behind him and hugged him from behind, "but they keep my storage drives cool Hugh, you know that. Whats wrong with that?" She said as they pressed against his back.

Hugh turned bright red as he finished washing his plate, he put it up to dry and unhooked her arms from around his waist, she had been true though, they were cooler than the extreme temperatures they could reach.

On an average day of computing her processors would reach over 110°, but her liquid storage would keep everything at 60° if they weren't running. So they balanced her out and kept her at a cool 79° and rarely went any higher than 85° even during a strenuos day.

"Don't you have some power to go drain Hina?" Hugh said as he walked out of the galley.

Hina sighed sadly, he seemed so distant... "You know i run on thermal energy Hugh. My own heat is too much and would nearly fry my circuits, and the coolant keeps it too low to power me forever! I need you... You're just right to keep me charging but not fry me."

Hugh threw his hands up in disgust, "so you could go get a heated blanket instead of me. See? I'm useless!" He said in anger before stomping off.

Hina sighed and ran after him, knowing him he'd hurt himself forgetting that the gravity was on so she lowered it to .5g's and soon enough she heard his curses drifting up from the ladderwell.

"Neo, son of a fucking hell..." He grumbled from the bottom floor, Hina jumped down the well and landed beside Hugh who was rubbing his head.

Hina sat on him and laid against him. "I need to recharge Hugh, and one, an electric blanket is stationery, and two, i enjoy your company." She said with a smile. Her eyes sparkled a little, the various bits of information being transferred visible behind her optic lenses, the guys had worked hard on her, her eyes looked almost human, the only difference was you could see through it a little bit to her racing thoughts and that they were electric blue and could provide light.

Slowly the lines that were visible on her poly carbon nano metal weave skin turned from blue to verdant green. She was charging from his body heat.

"Am i nothing but a plug in to you?" Hugh said grumpily, today was just a day he wanted to be left alone. And Hina could tell as she tried to cheer him up.

Hina frowned and rested her head against him, "you are Hugh, and i think if anyone thought anyone would be a plugin, it would be me who is the plugin." She said with more than a hint that it was innuendo.

Hugh turned a little red again and looked away, "look, just because i got the prong does not mean you're getting my prong. Those bastards down on the ground are already laughing their asses off at me. I am not giving them the satisfaction of finding out you have some secret sick design."

Hina got up and frowned at him. Slowly she moved away until Hugh was on the floor alone, "i... I see. Guess i'm just some machine made to torment you huh?" She said before walking off. A trail of phosphorescent light blue behind her.

Hugh growled and got up, "now wait a damn minute Hina. Thats not how i see you at all and you damn well know it!" He shouted.

Hina turned with tears in her eyes and shouted back, "Then why not!? What do you see me as Hugh!?" She said angrily.

Hugh crossed his arms and glared at her, "i'm not about to jeopardize your functions just so i can have some fun, cause if i broke you, then i really would be all alone. I'm not letting it happen dammit. No." He said stalwartly.

Hina slowly smiled through her tears, "i guess you do care then... In some way... Selfish bastard..." She muttered to herself before closing the gap and hugging Hugh again.

"You're gonna stain my uniform..." He said, though he didn't move from her embrace.

Hina looked up and smiled as she wiped her tears away. "I'll never understand why they gave me that functionality..." She said

Hugh raised an eyebrow in a grumpy, 'suuuure you won't. Not like a teary eyed fem can manipulate a guy at all...' He said with sarcasm.

Hina slowly turned from green to gold in her information veins, "i guess i'm good to go for another two or three weeks then..." She said wistfully.

"Bull fuckin' shit Hina. You're gonna do the same damn thing tomorrow, and the next day, and the day after that too. Why the hell is the robot the touchy feely one here? The fuck is the logic at?" He said with a grumpy expression, but truth be told he wad glad. Contact was one of the littlest things he ever got up here. And each day he was happy that he was nearly attacked by her need to "recharge".

"We need to head to the cargo bay. We should be getting a shipment from home." Hugh said as he patted her hair. Each one was yet another sensor or energy storage filament. And because she could burn as much energy on it as she wanted, she could make it color itself, otherwise it was typically silvery in color, but right now it was pinkish yellow. Like a strawberry blonde from an anime.

"Yeah yeah. Lets go see what the shitheads built this time." Hugh said before disentangling himself from Hina.

As they walked into the airlock to the cargo bay Hugh grabbed a helmet and put it on, making sure it was airtight he hit the oxygen recycler on the back of his suit. Hina simply stood by the door waiting for him to be ready. She could still function in zero atmosphere.

Soon Hugh was ready and they sealed off the airlock. As soon as the door opened to the outside world Hugh took off to the nearest terminal. As soon as he got there he waved his hand to Hina who was at the other terminal. She turned the gravity off entirely as Hugh opened the bay doors.

Slowly without a sound in the vacuum of space the doors opened. If they could have made a sound it would have been a deep grating sound of metal angrily pressing and sliding over metal.

As soon as the bay doors got halfway open the terminal before Hugh crackled to life.

"Theortan rank Hugh do you copy?" Came the voice of a burly man through the suit coms device, as the door finished opening the screen cleared of static and a grizzly bearded orange one piece mechanics suit appeared.

"I copy Torag rank Thern. I have the bay doors open with the aid of Anthick rank Hina android module. To what do we owe this supply drop sir?" Hugh said with forced calm. He hated this man. This mechanic who tormented him with all his devices.

"Now that we have the formalities over with space boy tell me, have you figured out Hina's secondary objective?" He said with a grin.

Hugh's face was blank as he thought about it, "secondary objective?" He said in bewilderment.

"Hina has a DNA recombination device in her" he began.

"SHUDDUP! i don't wanna hear it. That is plenty enough information for me!" Hugh interrupted forcefully before turning to look at Hina.

With a bashful glance back she held her abdomin saying, "well... I was built for it... You're a one man colonization project Hugh."

She had direct access to the camera fees in his helmet and she saw the eyebrow twitch and spasm angrily. "YOU SON OF A FUCK!" He roared at the terminal.

Thern simply picked a piece of metal from his fingernails, "sorry what was that Hugh? I couldn't hear you over the sound of laughter coming from the boys. Now, what we are sending you is basically your new daughter." Thern said with a smile.

"What the fuck are you talking about...?" Hugh said with a blank stare as indeed, a small box floated through the cargo hatch and bumped lightly against the ground.

"She is a prototype unit designed around you and Hina. So she's completely untested as she was meant for you and her to raise. So to speak." Thern said before continuing to speak to the slack jawed Hugh.

"She has however watched the same programs as Hina. But she took a different character role model. In fact she may not be your daughter. She may have chosen another persona type." Thern said before wiping some grease from his knuckles.

"I just have to say, while she was on Quintos she was a hell raiser. Couldn't say a damn thing, but she sure as hell had something she wanted to say." Thern said before turning around in his chair.

"Now wait just a fucking minute asshole. I never signed up for this one man colonization bullshit, nor to have some psuedo family for you to fuck with my head with!" Hugh said vehemently.

"Is that what you think? We got the document right here boyo, and i quote, 'under the terms of this contract, i hereto agree that my body and my assets are the express permission of the space force for humanity, and that any such task as they set me is my mission to carry out, with or without my will and/or notification on the subject matter at hand. Signed, Hugh Bramble.' End quote. So you are in fact signed up for a one man colonization project." Thern said as Hugh turned pale.

"WHAT DID I GET MYSELF INTO!?" he shouted as he fell to his knees, clasping the terminal tightly.

Thern put two fingers in his mouth and gave a shrill whistle, nearly deafening Hugh in his disbelief shocked state. "Good luck, you can give her a voice like you did with Hina spaceboy." He said as the transmission cut.

Hina looked at Hugh with worry and began to close the bay doors, but something about that whistle seemed... Wrong...

Just as the bay closed the box bust into splinters and a white-electric blue blur blasted into Hugh, he gasped as the wind was knocked straight out of him, and he was knocked into a wall hard enough to leave a dent and his head ringing.

Through his helmet Hugh heard Hina, "oh my god Hugh are you alright!?" She said in panic as she rushed to his side to pry whatever it was off him.

Hugh grunted as tears formed in his eyes and slowly he began to black out, his last words... "Can't... Breathe..." And then he was lost to the darkness.


	2. Chapter 2

Hugh awoke in the lounge of the station wheezing. "Why is it... So hard... To breathe...?" He gasped out before looking down at a younger version of Hina. She looked to be about 15-16, had long strawberry blonde anime hair like Hina, and was shorter by three inches as well as having no clothes, and smaller liquid cooled data storage.

"Theortan rank Hugh giving android direct orders to cease actions of hostility and allow me to breathe right!" He said as best he could.

The young model of android looked up at him with orange eyes that worked like Hina's and she hugged him tighter.

"Let me go! I can't breathe damn you!" He said as he felt the beginnings of his rib breaking.

As soon as he said it the pressure lessened and he could take a deep breathe of air. What were those insane mechanics making for neo sake?

Hina came in with a cup full of orange liquid and set it on the table. "She wouldn't let you go Hugh. But i brought you into the lounge."

Hugh sighed and tried to get up, but the android girl wasn't exactly a balloon. "Get off of me neo please!" He said in exasperation. She made no move whatsoever though so he sighed and grabbed the drink before doing his best to get in a way to not spill it all.

"Hina go grab my stupid toolbox. The sooner she can talk the sooner i can know why she won't let me go." He said with more than a hint of irritation.

"Of course dear." Hina said with a smile and a slight bluish blush. Once again Hugh's eyebrow started spasming angrily.

Once she was back with the toolbox Hugh took out a pair of goggles, a blowtorch, some wire cutters, and many more parts for his little android surgery.

He started by having Hina pull her off, at the cost of one of his ribs audibly cracking under the force of peeling her off of him. He then sat on her arms and began the work of welding her throat open, while Hina grabbed bandages for his rib.

With a look of terror on her face she closed her eyes as the plating was removed, showing a hollow space where her throat was. Hugh grumbled about how much of a pain in the ass she was not five minutes ago with wanting to never let him go and now she wanted to be anywhere but there it seemed.

Even as he thought this he began to assemble the voice modulator in her nearly empty throat, snipping the fiber optics and plugging them in. As soon as it was operational a deep bellow of pure fear from a deep base voice washed through the station.

"SHUDDUP! YOU'RE GETTING A VOICE FOR NEO SAKE!" Hugh yelled before she began to quiet. "I need to fine tune it but once it's done you can vocalize all your processes and whatever. Now let me do this, when i'm done there won't even be a mark." He said more calmly.

Hina came back in and pulled Hugh's shirt up, causing him to grunt in pain before she began to wrap his midriff. As he was tended to he kept hearing the ragged sound of breathing coming from the terrified android girl. Using it as a refrence he began to turn the bolt that controlled the pitch.

Slowly he turned it tighter and tighter until her breathing was more akin to what her human counterpart would sound like. Taking the plate he had soldered off he put it back in to place and began to reweld it.

"Hold still or this will leave a mark. Consider me your doctor right now." Hugh said as he welded it back into place seamlessly.

Once he was complete, so was Hina, and he put his tools away and got off the tiny android. She immediately lunged for Hugh again, and a distinct crunch could be heard along with sobbing and a wheezy, "sonofabitch..." As Hugh was floored again.

Hugh grabbed her by the shoulders and pried her off with all his might, "what the hell is your problem!? Quit breaking me girl!" Hugh shouted between grunts of extricating her from his person.

"But papa i'm so scared!" Came the young girlish voice from the android.

"What." Was all Hugh said as his strength was drained away and he had the air crushed out of him again.

Hina knelt and worked her hands between the two before pulling her off again. "Listen um... Whats your designation?" Hina said before pushing her onto her backside.

She hugged her knees as tears slowly fell down her cheeks, Hugh groaned as he clutched at his two new broken ribs. "Intelligent Surrogate Android ..." She petered off until she was merely muttering the end.

"What? Speak up. I gave you a voice now use it." Hugh said as he sat up.

"I said Intelligent Surrogate Android Superweapon!" She said as she began crying again.

"Superweapon my ass. Then again you broke three of my ribs. Neo deus, why in the flames of great nebula did you have to break three of my ribs? THREE GIRL THREE!?" he said in anger.

Hina looked at her and patted her hair, "I.S.A.S for short huh? A wonderful designation Isas. Now, can you do something for me? Can you tell me about yourself?" Hina said with a smile as she held Isas' chin.

Hugh grumbled and looked at her, "and why are you crying? We aren't gonna hurt you." He said before grumbling that it would probably another of his ribs if anything.

She looked up with tear stains at Hugh, "i'm scared papa... When they made me they were all afraid becuase of the weaponry they put in me..." She said sadly.

Hugh shook his hand, "woah woah woah, back up." He said in disbelief.

"I don't want you to be afraid too papa!" She said before she began crying anew.

Hugh looked at her dumbfounded, "the hell is this papa shit? What the fuck are they trying to do to me!? You, Isas, follow Hina and get dressed already, Neo deus, why the hell is this shit happening to me. The first fucking week we had those damn quadruped beast things from the nearby satellite. We had to change our orbit so THAT bullshit never happened again." He said as he scratched his head.

Hina waved for Isas to follow, but she just sat their looking at Hugh with a teary smile. "You aren't afraid of me papa?" She said before scooting closer.

Hugh saw her move out of the corner of his eye, "hey! I said dressed! Now! I don't need two more liquid cooling data storage swinging freely here. hina does that shit enough thank you very much!" Hugh said before turning his back from her.

She lunged and hugged him from behind, "oh thank you papa!" She said with glee, Hugh wheezed in pain, "go... Now... Ribs hurt... Let go... Get dressed..." He said as she let go and he collapsed onto his side, clutching his ribs.

Isas got to her feet and pranced off humming behind Hina. "Damn androids are gonna kill me with this recharging bullshit..." Hugh said as he lay there rubbing his ribs.

He climbed onto the couch in the lounge and lay there trying to catch his breathe. Before long he heard the pitter patter of the footsteps of two androids, completely out of rhythm as Isas burst through and jumped with a squeal of joy onto Hugh, he wheezed as she landed on him.

"When will i ever get to breathe properly..." He sighed as Hina sat at his feet. "Turn the gravity to .5 g's, Hina if you want me to live do it!" Hugh said through the weight of teen android.

Isas knelt on top of Hugh, her hair filaments hanging down into his face, "so papa, can i recharge with you at night?" She said before moving to lay against him.

He sighed and looked at Hina for help, but found none, "you won't take no for an answer will you?" Hugh said hopefully.

"Nope!" Isas replied with a cheery smile. Hugh sighed as her fiberoptics glowed green and she began to sigh in content.

"Neo dammit." Hugh said in exasperation. He yawned and looked at the nerest window, the station was slowly getting to the 14th hour of dark position.

The station rotated as it orbited the dwarf star, giving it it's own day/night cycle and year, with days consisting of 28 hours, and years consisting of 405 days. It was almost midnight for Hugh as he pried Isas off of him and went into the bathing area.

He sank into a tub and sighed in content before he heard a splash, followed by a second. He opened an eye and yelled in surprise as he saw Isas and Hina in the bath with him.

Sure they were androids, but they were water tight and also had to have regular cleaning to maintain performance.

"Why the hell are you in here! I'm getting a bath! Cover up! Your data storage is showing Neo Deus help me!" He said as he closed his eyes and turned around.

Hina slowly walked through the water and began to scrub Hugh's back, "H-hey now! What are you doing!" He said as Isas grabbed one of his arms and hugged it, her data storage pressing against him as did Hina's as she began working on his chest from behind him.

"Don't you want to be clean Hugh?" Hina said with genuine innocence as she kept scrubbing.

Hugh was slowly turning redder and redder, "that doesn't mean i need your help!" He said before trying to move away. Using all his force he pulled out of Isas' grasp and made a dash, so fast not even the androids had seen more than a flash of his pale back as he climbed from the water.

Once dressed he collapsed in his bed, the best part being it was a decently good sized bed. And then into the room walked Hina and Isas, "i'm going to sleep, no funny business or you're going on a charger and that means a plug up you backside so you charge at night." He said in a tone that brooked no argument.

Isas smiled and jumped into bed with a "yay! I get to sleep with papa!" Followed by Hina crawling in beside him. "You two are so dependent on my being warmblooded." He said with a tired sigh, soon he was out and the girls had gone into a sleep mode of their own.

7 hours later.

Hugh woke up with a groan, he smelled something cooking, doubtless more paste. Not like Hina had got to study cooking shows, nor did they have the self sufficient farms working at maximum capacity yet.

He slowly got out of bed and stretched before putting on a new white work suit. As he walked out he passed by Isas who was studdying everything in the station.

With a start he winced and turned away from her, "what the hell did i say yesterday? Clothes! Now Isas!" He said before walking away from a groan of dissapointment.

Hugh sat at the table and pulled up the holographic monitor display for todays missions. The year was seperated into months, just like every other planet of the terran race. It's space stations were no different.

With 405 days it was divided cleanly into 9 months of 45 days, and 5 weeks of 9 days. Each station or planet typically had a different time schedule. Varying between the amount of days, amount of months, and even hours. And as such most had varying names for these months, and days. If two inhabited areas had a time schedule with the same of anything, they shared the names.

This gave rise to a race wide calendar system where it was based on what number was the maximum for weeks and months. Typically if a place had a certain amount of months it also had a specific amount of days and weeks, with little variation so as to keep it simple, with a deviation factor of up to 3 days variation between months.

This station, had the 9 month, 9 day system. And each was labeled accordingly.

1- Nix

2-Dous

3-Trentas

4-Quasicary

5-Pintel

6-Theocran

7-Septum

8-Octus

And 9- Dendalus

The days of the week were typically labeled to closely resemble the months.

1-Nius

2-Diomul

3-Trintic

4-Quasmel

5-Pince

6-Theum

7-Separa

8-Ocuos

And 9-Dendarum

Today was Pince of the third week of Septum, and he had a special mission today as the station was at it's closest position to the best option for colonization. However said planet was also the deadliest with the creatures upon it. To try and deacribe them in the mythology of the planet Terra of the Sol system... They had the head of a hammerhead shark at the end of a long neck like a giraffe, the body was large like a hippo but the biology was yet to be understood. They charged far faster than they should be physically allowed on their spindly legs. Awkward things like a giant deer.

The designation for this creature was the Trantomere. And it was by far the deadliest as the planet had a gravity of 2 g's but it could leap 5 yards high and over 6 long with speed.

The ungainly way these creatures could move about was what threw a person off. And had caused many deaths, constricting the amount of data on the subject.

And it was this reason that Hugh had been given this mission, as well as his proximity and that he was the only one to survive the dangers of the planet.

With a sigh at the hardships ahead he downed his nutrition paste and got up from the table. "Just so you are fully aware i am not happy about this psuedo family setup with two androids." He said with a leer.

Hina simply smiled with her hands together in front of her as Isas looked down sadly. "I'm not saying i was designed to be your wife Hugh, in fact my original designation has no real interraction with procreation. But... Isas and i do both have an algorithm designed to simulate emotion, and she WAS designated to be your daughter. So you can reject any interraction with me, but please don't do it to her." She said calmly.

Hugh sighed as his eyebrow twitched again. "I hate how you assume things. I never said i don't accept the two of you, i'm just not prepared to have two androids as an archetypal family. I... I care about both of you, yes Isas even though we met some less than 28 hours ago. I care, but don't pressure me to be some sort of father got it?" He said before walking off.

Isas looked up at Hina, "whats he mean?" She said with a slightly teary eyed gaze.

Hina put a hand on her hip and looked at Isas, "well... It's not a bad start... But i wouldn't push him. It's like a semi liquid metaphysical compound. The more force applied the more solid it becomes." She said with a smile.

"So it's like hitting liquid at an extreme rate of speed?" Isas said curiously.

"Now you've got it. Give him some time. Like hitting that liquid slowly." Hina said with a smile before walking after Hugh. Isas followed behind slowly, processors running with the question of what it meant for boundaries...

Hugh stepped into the airlock and put his helmet on before moving to the doorway. "Are you two coming i'll need support." He said as he looked back.

Hina walked in with Isas and they stood at the ready. "We're happy to assist you papa!" Isas said cheerily.

Hugh sighed in exasperation before hitting the button. The airlock sealed off and the door slowly opened to the cargo bay with the vehicles. "We need ultimate manueverability coupled with unparalleled fire power and a large fuel tank. Possibly with a land rover too..." He said as he floated over to a rather large and ungainly looking lander. "Unfortunately we haven't got that sort of funding so we're taking the P.O.S. out. Hope we don't die on the surface." He said as he climbed in followed by Hina and Isas.

The hatch sealed he hit the button and the bay doors opened. As soon as the way was clear and the station had rotated to face the planet, he launched off.

Soon they were hitting the outer atmosphere, the P.O.S was shaking from the resistance and was through the thickest part of it.

As they came down Hugh flipped a few switches and air brakes opened on one of the sides, spinning the lander to a more horizontal position before turning the thrusters on to glide down towards a giant forest.

The entire planet was a forest, forest and ocean. It was either land in the seas, or the trees. And it was into the trees that he aimed.

Coming in low he was skimming the tree tops before pulling a lever, causing the airbrakes to fully open, pulling it straight up before slamming the buttons to fire the thrusters to stabilize it and slow it down to a hover above the trees.

Hovering above the forest he could see none of the creatures he needed to study. Thankfully he had the room to manuever in this forest of giant trees.

Each tree was strange, they were like palm trees the size of sequoias, but the bark looked like the scales of a fish, overlapping and going down to the ground. The leaves were a bright red and seemed like a giant version of a fern frond.

Slowly without hitting any of the enormous trees Hugh settled the lander between the roots. The legs extending to keep the lander flat on the uneven ground.

The hatch opened with the hiss of decompression and Hugh stepped out with a tranquilizer rifle in hand and a suppressed combustion weapon over his shoulder. It had the power of a small cannon in the form of a ball of metal, an eighth of an inch thick metal shell packed with highly volatile chemical compounds as found on Terra 3. It was used in many things including demolition.

But here it would likely blow a 3 yard diameter hole in anything you fired it at. And it was meant as a last resort if the tranquilizer failed. The dosage measured out for the assumed body mass of the creatures.

Keeping an eye out for the greenish grey shiny rubber looking skin of the beasts as he stepped down off the lander ladder. He was followed by Isas and Hina respectively. "The atmospheric composition is a little high in nitrogen, explaining the size of the plants. Otherwise completely acceptable for life unlike terra's 2-4." Hina said before stepping up beside Hugh.

Isas shivered as she stepped up and grabbed Hugh's arm. "I'm scared papa." She said as she looked around anstily.

"You're technically a combat oriented android but you've never seen combat have you?" Hugh said with an exasperated sigh.

She nodded as a blue blush colored her cheeks. Hugh sighed again before stepping forward with Isas in tow. He stepped up to a tree and poked it, watching as the bark that looked so hard gave like a plastic cover beneath his finger.

"Interesting, think it can be cut or is it too malleable to have any amount of force break it?" Hugh said before pulling out a knife. He slowly dragged the tip across the bark and watched as the point simply pressed against the bark, pressing a line but leaving no real damage.

Hina kept an eye on the surrounding forest as Isas poked the bark and giggled. "It's like a taut bedsheet. It just springs back up when your done." She said as the scaled tree reformed to normal.

Hugh hmmmed and hawwed as he though about it, looking around he saw various scales from the trees littering the forest floor. Almost like the scales were the leaves instead of the fronds up top.

Taking the initative he grabbed ahold of the bottom of a scale and gave a yank, the tree shook a little bit as the scale came dislodged. As soon as it was free a new one grew in it's place as a sickly yellow colored ooze dripped out.

Taking a dead scale from the ground Isas poked the ooze and shrieked in horror as the scale hissed and smoked where it touched the ooze.

Hugh put his arm in front of her and pushed her back as he backed up. Hina looked with curiousity at the ooze, "some sort of caustic acid?" She said questioningly.

Hugh narrowed his eyes as he studied the tree. Slowly a new scale was regrowing, not very fast however. "Some natural defense or a chemical reaction with the air and the chemical composition of the scale..." He said before motioning back to the ship.

"We'll take chemical samples of the scales, and figure out what can react with it, or come back at a later date and take a sample of the sap." Hugh said before taking the scale that was about the size of his arm to the ship.

Isas stood on a mound of dirt and looked around until a sheen of greyishgreen caught her eye. "PAPA HELP!" She screamed as she pointed.

Hugh turned to look and saw a large predatorial raptor like eye on the side of a hammer shaped head. With a blur of motion it was gone and a great animalistic bellow was heard from above.

Looking up Hugh pointed the tranquilizer and fired off a shot as it came down, "it's a Shrenk!" He yelled as the beast caused a dust cloud as it landed, it's head snapped around and darted towards Hugh with the speed of a cobra.

With barely a second to spare he jumped out of the way and pointed his gun at it's head, firing off three more tranqs into it he kept backing away in hops and skips, being used to a 3g's planet meant he was used to waying 3/2's more than here, increasing his agility.

The beast bellowed in anger before collapsing comatose on the ground beneath the trees. "Documentation now!" Hugh shouted as he ran for the lander.

Hina began recprding data on the physical make up and the approximate size of it's various appendages. She stepped closer and pulled a chip from her pocket and quickly implanted it into a spot where a tranquilizer had peirced the skin.

She noted down the amount of anesthetic that had been required as well as the approximate estimated weight of the creature. Hugh came down with some steel cable and began to hammer pegs into the ground as Isas kept watch for more.

As soon as he was done he began to measure out and dictate the accurate sizes of the beast, "back is 2 and 1/3 yards, legs are from the hip to the knee, 1 and 2/3 yards. The knee to the hoofpad is 1 and 1/3 yards. The neck is 3 and 2/3 yards. The midriff is an estimated 4 yards in circumference. The head is 2 yards across, the eye is about 2/3 of a yard in diameter. The jaw is 2/3 of a yard long and 1/3 of a yard wide. It seems to be regaining conciousness, 7 minutes have elapsed, make note of it and head back to the ship. Now!" Hugh shouted as the eyelid fluttered open.

The slit that was the pupil widened and shrank before it roared and the cable groaned as the beast tried to move.

Hugh held his lethal gun at the ready as Isas ran up the ladder and into the lander, Hina stopped at the top to look at Hugh. "We have 25 minutes before the station is out of range for us to safely return to on our fuel." She said before climbing in.

Hugh ran up the ladder as the sound of the cables began to snap. "We need to go now!" He said before climbing in and shutting the hatch, as the lander sealed he hit the switches the lander blew the scales away the beast lurched to it's feet.

The lander was rocketing upwards as it charged, it leapt and snapped it's head forward to snap onto a landing gear. The piece broke away as the beast plummeted back down with a roar of furious denial.

They cleared the tree tops and began the ascent out of the planets atmosphere as Hugh checked the external cameras, "dammit he got a landing gear. Thats gonna cost us. Hopefully the data we send back will be enough to cover it plus some." He said as he was huddled in the lander with Hina in his lap and Isas hugging him from behind the seat, quietly crying in abject terror.

Hugh sighed patted her hand, "fine. You can sit in my lap too. But as soon as we get back to the station you are out of the lander got it?" She nodded before climbing into his lap beside Hina.

Soon enough they were landing back inside the docking bay, turning the magnetic feet of the lander on kept it stable as they touched down in the cargo bay.

Once out of the lander Hina headed off to put the documentation into the database of the station as well as send a copy to Terra 4.

Meanwhile Hugh and Isas stayed in the cargo bay with the hatch open as they contacted the mehanics. "Theortan rank Hugh calling Torag rank Thern, do you copy?" Hugh said as the terminal showed static.

"Torag rank Thern reading Theortan rank Hugh i copy. What seems to be the problem?" Thern said as tge static cleared up.

"Well... That species we were sent to gather info on has a nasty bite. And a decent heft. They snapped off one of the landing gear, we'll need a replacement landing gear setup to be sent our way." Hugh said as Isas twiddled her thumbs nervously at his side.

"Well howdy dowdy Isas. Doing your new Theortan proud?" Thern said before turning to look at something behind the camera, "No you shithead! We need that on the other side, and you! Drop that destabilizer by the bulkhead. That goes in after the amplifier! Buncha dumbasses..." He grumbled.

Isas hid behind Hugh as she nodded, "we made some progress on the data acquiration... It should be being transmitted soon by Hina." She said nervously.

Thern scratched his head, "what does that have to do with us? Unless perhaps we have to build something to beat these mean suckers. But you had the combustion gun. Shouldn't that have did something?"

Hugh pulled the tranquilizer gun up to the camera, "i used this, we needed to check on a live specimen, if we can figure out how to take it alive we can study it more closely while it's ardous than when it's dead when a biopsy will take more time and doubtless attract more predators."

Thern waves his hand and looked behind the screen again, "you, what did i say before? The thermal reactor goes into the middle of the chassis so to better receive heat from the various points of the hull. If you put it that high the coolant will cause a massive restriction to the heat transfer. Sorry, new guy thinks he understand how to build these things. We'll be sending your replacement landing gear... God whats the galactic standard time again?" Thern said scratching his beard.

Hugh narrowed his eyes in caution, "just what are you building now old man? And the galactic standard is the minute as defined by the halflife of quartz. Based around that the hour is always the same no matter where you go. Now when will it arrive and what are you building?" Hugh said angrily. He knew exactly what they were building, probably a new android.

Thern looked away nervously, yep... Android. "We have recieved word of two projects to send to you, and now you need a new landing gear, i'd say it will take us a good 2 and a half gs weeks. So expect your three crates in about 17 gs days." Thern said before whacking the terminal. "NO DAMMIT. Neo... I gotta go. YOU DAMN FOOL!" He said as the transmission cut.

Hugh sighed and closed the bay doors before walking to the airlock, Isas trailed behind hugging his arm as they crossed the frame and he sealed the door behind him.

Air flooded the room and he pulled his helmet off, "would you mind allowing me the functions of having two arms?" He said grumpily as he put his helmet on the shelf.

Isas nodded and collapsed on the floor. She hugged her knees and started to cry.

"Oh for Neo sake, what is it Isas?" Hugh said before picking her up and carrying her through to the main compartment of the station.

"I was so useless, so afraid, and so terrible at my designation, i should be decomissioned!" She said through her tears.

Hugh sighed, "if you don't stop crying you're gonna stain both our suits. First, everything went fine, second, i don't care what your designation is, if i don't give the order you don't just do whatever the hell you were designated to do. And third, Thern is an asshole, and you have no need to be nervous around him when i'm there." Hugh said before dropping her onto the lounge couch.

She hiccuped and wiped her eyes before watching Hugh walk away. He returned with some coolant and sat down beside her, "drink. You've been crying a lot and i know ecactly what it is." He said with a hint of irritation.

Isas nodded and began to ingest it, the makeup of the android being that a single tube ran down the throat, into a liquid assesment and sorting tank which then pumped it into various areas of the machine.

Hugh patted her head and walked off to find Hina. As he stepped into the kitchen he saw her sigh and lean against the counter. "Trouble with the report?" He said without expression.

Hina shook her head, "no, the report went fine, and with the experience we recieved they added a very large hazardous work bonus. But now we have no mission for another month or so..."

Hugh looked at her from the corner of his eye as he pulled a tub from the food storage and began ingesting his midday meal paste. "We've had that before. Sure it becomes routine but it isn't bad. We get time to do research and relax. You know what happens if an android does too much without a break. They freeze up, the motors need time to not be overtaxed and you are fully aware of it after last years incident." He said with a grimace at the taste of the paste.

Hina sighed as she knew full well he was right. She moved over behind him and hugged Hugh from behind, "i've been feeling low on energy lately..." She said as she closed her eyes and just soaked in his human warmth.

Isas walked into the kitchen and put the coolant can in the recycling bin before she sat down on Hugh's lap. She wrapped her arms around him and let her head rest on his chest.

Hugh sat their as his irritation slowly built, "i swear when the next one of you tin cans comes in i am forcing someone to use a fucking electric blanket." He said quietly. Truth is he wasn't sure if it was why they were clinging to him or if it was just a convenient excuse they made to hold onto him.

Hina pouted and hugged him tighter, "but you're so good at recharging us Hugh..." She said cutely. Isas smiled as she looked up at him, "yeah, papa makes me feel warm and happy." She said shyly.

Hugh looked away as he turned reddish, he could never admit it made him happy, it would be a blow to his manly pride to say he was happy that he was needed, cared about, possibly even loved. Maybe coming from an android it meant less, or maybe it really meant more because they weren't typically prone to emotion.

As if they could read his mind they snuggled closer, Hina whispering in his ear gently, "i... I do love you Hugh... Even if i am just a machine." As Isas sighed and snuggled into his chest saying, "i love my papa, and i hope he loves me even for being a robot..."

Hugh groaned guiltily before wrapping his arms around Isas, "neo damn the both of you guilt tripping women. Just because you're an android doesn't mean i devalue you. You are both precious. Now shut up cause i'm losing manliness points here." He said even as he couldn't make eye contact and his face was flushed bright red.

Isas smiled and got up, "it's nearly the 10th dark hour papa, time for bed." She said befpre skipping off to the bedroom to change.

Hina replaced her and kissed Hugh's cheek, "you gained some manly points in my databanks Hugh." She said before sauntering off after Isas to change as well.

Hugh sighed and got up to head to bed, being in space with two familial androids was gonna wear him out faster than the acid on those trees that morning.

As he stepped up to his doorway an alarm went off, "son of a bitch what now?" Hugh said before hitting the hallway terminal. The picture was very static filled but the audio was clear, "no time for formalities space boy, our resident new dumbass sent one of your crates too soon, we've calculated the trajectory and it's gonna hit the fifth planet in your system. The info says it's a barren 1g wasteland but you'll need to recover it asap before the cargo gets spooked. No atmosphere, no creatures, just terrible wind storms and hella lightning. You need to get there as soon as it crashes in 13 gs hours. Get some sleep, i got a feeling you'll need it, Thern out!" And the. The data feed cut.

Hugh stood there with a blank expression, "Dammit Hina now we have a mission tomorrow." He grumbled before walking into his room. He didn't see the girls but he knew they would be there quick so he changed into his boxers quickly and hopped into bed. As soon as he did he heard two sets of running feet and covered his body protectively.

Not a moment too soon as two female model androids fell on top of him with a squeal of glee. All they wore was a light see through night gown as they wiggled under the covers and snuggled up to Hugh.

He simply sighed as they said goodnight to him and powered down, letting his body heat recharge them. And to the feel of two 69° androids surrounding him he fell into his own sleep state.


	3. Chapter 3

As the alarm went off Hugh sat up, always quick to wake up, if not be fully alert, he climbs out of bed from the bottom of his bed, used to Hina being on either side it was simply easier than a 50/50 chance of climbing over an android who would do anything to make any situation sound dirty. And now he had Isas which meant a full 1/1 chance of having to climb over a female android.

As soon as he got up he turned the alarm off and began stripping to get ready for the day.

"My oh my Hugh, is that really what you want to do in front of your daughter?" Hina said as Hugh froze in place.

Stark naked with his back to the bed he craned his neck around to see both of the girls sitting up in bed. His face burned with embarrassment before he ran into the shower room. He hadn't been paying any attention to either of their expressions as his mind had gone entirely blank.

If he had he'd have seen the typical android semibright light blue of a blush on Isas cheeks, and a coy flirtatious smile on Hina.

He showered for 32 minutes to regain his calm. Peeking out of the shower he moved stealthily with a towel around his waist. Keeping an eye out for those droids was priority one.

He made it to his room and sighed in relief, no sign, he opened the door and confidently walked in with his eyes closed before closing the door behind him and opening his eyes...

...to see both androids without clothes on staring at him with a towel around his waist.

"You sure deny wanting to do any procreation but the day after we get Isas you seem all too ready there hotshot." Hina said before giving a pouty face to Hugh, "am i just... An older model? Is that why you don't... Don't find me attractive!?" She said as tears began to roll down her cheeks.

Hugh's mouth dropped open and he turned to face the door, "i never said that and your programming is malfunctioning. Get dressed the both of you and get out so i can get ready for our mission today. We only have 6 gs hours to get into position." He said even as his face burned bright red in embarrassment.

Hina came up and hugged him from behind, lavishing a single kiss upon the back of his neck she went back to the closet and grabbed her clothes.

Isas' footsteps could be heard as she shuffled up behind Hugh and hugged him too. He stiffened up nervously as she kissed his cheek and whispered quietly, "while my personal designation is your daughter... I know we aren't related... And... I'd be fine being your... Prospective mate." She finished shyly before moving off.

Hugh leaned against the wall, the amount of tension that had drained out of him when she moved away had been tremendous. He had no comment for either of them, but why were they programmed to love him? To want him? To want to fulfill this ridiculous colonization mission?

Soon the androids were dressed and out of the room and Hugh got dressed himself. 5 and a half gs hours remained. They needed to get on the shuttle and head down to the planet.

Hugh walked into the kitchen and was floored as Isas hugged him, "crushing... Ribs... Again..." He groaned as she snuggled up to him, though her arms loosened around him a bit.

Hina stood above them holding a plate and set it on the table. She then helped Hugh to his feet even as he had to carry a clingy android teen girl around.

He sat down and began eating his paste as Isas sat in his lap. "You realize you could get paste on you right?" Hugh said in an attempt to get her to let go.

Isas simply nuzzled his cheek before taking her finger and dragging it through the paste and bringing it to Hughs lips.

"Really?" Hugh said before she put her finger in his mouth without any warning. He jerked back and her finger was clean. "An android digit does not the perfect seasoning make Isas." Hugh said with a grimace.

Hina sat down beside Hugh and laughed, "your little girl has a crush!" Hina said teasingly.

Hugh turned to her and snapped back, "she is not my daughter!" He said heatedly.

Isas smiled and snuggled closer, "so that means a relationship is perfectly okay then" she said with a smug smile. Hugh simply groaned and finished his paste.

~1 gs hour later~

Hugh stood at the cargo doors with his helmet in hand, "we go now to the fifth planet, to ready ourselves for the item in question. Why the fuck don't they tell me this shit before hand?" He grumbled before putting his helmet on, Isas and Hina standing patiently behind him.

Hina sighed as Hugh hit the open hatch button, "they did hugh, just yesterday in fact."

Isas chimed in with a ,"she's right. They did." Before walking through the door behind him.

Hugh looked at them on his helmet hud, "you both damn well know those shits should have had better control over whatever shit they were up to. Hell, we can't even use this damn lander very well. I'll have to keep a thruster on the entire time if we can't stilt the damn thing." He said as he clambered onto the ladder.

Hina and Isas stood waiting on him as he hung from one side, "get in, i need to counterbalance as you two get settled. And then we need to make a quick exit." He said.

The girls climbed in one at a time, the three legs wobbling slightly in the low gravity as they got in. Hugh climbed in, hit the switches as Hina closed the hatch and off they went.

Through the one window on the hatch they saw the space station. A massive place reminiscent of a gear shaft from an old terran vehicle. A single large tube ran down the center of the complex. And branched out like leaves were rooms of various shapes and aizes based on the purpose. At either end of this large dumbell-esque like thing were two large rooms. One for various daily activities such as lodging and entertainment, and the other was the cargo bay.

The landing shuttle rotated until the station was out of sight...

~2 gs hours later~

The landing shuttle was just over orbit of the fifth planet. A place constantly cloaked by clouds that sparked dangerously with electrical tension. Getting through a light zone would be difficult. But leaving the thruster on would be possible as the lightning could recharge the battery, keeping the reactor from overheating.

Taking the wheel in hand he pressed it forward, causing the top thruster to fire off, setting in motion the first action of the difficult landing manuever.

With the shuttle now heading into the planets atmosphere at a 15° angle it would be able to take the pressure of atmospheric reentry on just the right side so the wait for the cargo would be nearest the location in just over he hour they would have left when they finished landing procedures.

Hina and Isas sat on Hughs arm rests and the headrest to remain upright. Slowly they decended through layer after layer of clouds. The outermost layer as seen from space was brilliant orange red like a constant sunset from the history of terra.

Slowly the shuttle sank into the clouds, thick as cream but airy as the gas they were. Sparks jumped from the ship to the clouds.

"Son of a bitch! The clouds are positively ionized! They're stealing our power!" Hugh shouted before gunning it and sliding the thruster handle to full power and pushing the steering wheel in completely.

The shuttle lurched sluggishly in response, the energy drain making it so only one thruster could fire. The plasma propulsion mechanism wasn't able to fully charge, making the excess energy... Not so excessive.

The ship bottomed out under the red hell of clouds and into an awe inspiring and utterly terrifying sight.

The skies above was no more than a red sea of angry clouds boiling from horizon to horizon. The floor was yet another ocean of clouds, these a dark purple, roiling and swirling like an actual sea, but sparkling as if like stardust. And the terrifyong part... Large pillars of lightning connecting them...

Each was moving like a possessed bright white beast, twitching and writhing in agony as it was strung out between the two seas of clouds. If they took that much voltage it would completely blow the insulator and the ship would be fired entirely.

Hugh was sweating in his suit as warning signals flared up at a massive electron spike below the ship. Without such a power drain as the ion cloud storm above he was able to push the shuttle ahead. The reactor screamed as it was pushed to it's limits.

There was only one way out of this... And so Hugh pressed on the wheel again and the ship shot down out of electrohell, escaping the white leviathans of lightning. They submerged in the purple sea and sank further. Able to see nothing but purple swirl by the windows.

After a few seconds the ship punched through the secondary cloud layer and far below sat land, red sand, white areas and it was brilliantly white and glowing. Slowly they touched down, they purple electron cloud having refilled the batteries without damaging anything.

They had only to wait another hour before the shipment would crash somewhere nearby. And so with a thruster set down low they stabilized the shuttle and stepped out of the ship.

Taking atmospheric readings they found it livable... But only just, as if it were a semiformed planet.

The skies were dark purple and none of the light from the dwarf star made it to the surface. Yet nothing was dark.

Hugh pulled his helmet off and coughed before taking a deep breathe to better acclimate to the environment. The air was thick but breatheable.

As Hugh got used to the denser atmosphere they waited for the cargo to arrive. The question was what was it? How big was it? Would it even survive entry into the atmosphere?

They stood a slight distance away from the shuttle for the hour they waited, as the lower clouds kept striking it with small bolts of lightning.

In the time they were waiting they made note of the terrain and flora, the ground was red sand pits doted with white land patches. Hina knelt and took samples, eventually coming to the conclusion of electrically charged luminescent plant fibers.

Each blade of grass seemed nearly bioluminescent, but in truth the land was struck by lightning very often, amd excess energy was released by the plants that absorbed the energy. They released it as heat and light, giving the entire planet a semi temperate climate.

The red sand was fine as can be and of a high level quality iron, had it been like normal sand from terra or terra 3 the strikes would have turned them into glass chunks. Instead the flash welding often made high quality iron nuggets.

You could tell where lightning had struck recently as the grass in that area glowed brighter. Each blade of grass had it's own veins where it had absorbed some low resistance metal, making them like wires in leaves. The plant material was itself heat resistant, and the light the plants produced gave them enough solar power to continue to grow.

The ecosystem fed itself entirely based on the lightning. But so far... No fauna had been seen.

The hour passed by relatively quickly and soon they had their eyes pointed to the sky. A few minutes passed as they stared before a gray blob crossed through the purple barrier heading for a sand dune nearby.

The group stood by as it crashed into the ground, causing a significant crater. They moved in slowly and cautiously approached a charred gray box. The impact had cracked the casing a little but otherwise it was intact.

Slowly Hugh opened the side that was at the top and out flew a blur of blue and silver before Hugh was floored.

Huddled against his chest was an android, tears running freely down her feminine cheeks. She looked about 17-18 and absolutely terrified.

"Son of a bitch." Hugh said before trying to move. He knew she wouldn't be able to talk until he fit a voice box around her ingestion pipe.

As he shifted beneath her unclothed form she looked him in the eyes, her optic lenses were a vivid green and tears streamed freely, her fiber optic cables were colored orange and her chassis wad the same metallic white color of Hina and Isas.

Hugh sighed and laid in the sand. He couldn't stop those mechanic bastards, and at least he didn't feel lonely any more. If anything it was almost crowded. Now he would have 3 bioheat charging FEMALE androids. This couldn't get any more awkward for him unless he was turned on.

Thankfully that wasn't the case.

He looked up pleadingly at Hina and Isas before speaking, "we have the cargo... Lets uh... Lets head home shall we? Take a few plant samples, load up some iron sand, we need to send this data to the colonies." He said before holding his hands out.

Right now he was no more than a stretcher for this android curled up in fear on his midsection. And the girls pulled him along the smooth ground, his one piece space suit keeping sand from getting in as they dragged him nearer to the ship.

They had taken the time to measure the lightning frequency and found it was rather regular, once every five minutes it would strike, and twice in two seconds on the 7th strike.

Picking Hugh up Hina and Isas grunted as they brought him and the newbie onto the ship. "Okay thats just insulting, not like one of you couldn't lift the both of us easily." Hugh grumbled at their human like response to moving something.

The new android stayed curled up agaonst him as slowly her fiber optics turned light blue in charging. Hugh noted her color scheme was completely different. He sat in the cockpit as Hina and Isas grabbed various samples from the surrounding environment and put them in the small cargo container.

Soon they were back in the single thruster stabilized shuttle and just waiting for the seventh strike.

As soon as it happened several things happened at once, Hugh pushed the lever to throw the thrusters on full blast as he flipped the switch on the retracting landing gear. The new android opened her mouth and shut her eyes in a silent scream as she clutched at Hugh. Hina and Isas balanced on the chair arms as they took off like a bat out of hell.

Heading straight up they took many more bolts of lightning to the hull, but it was simply absorbed by the battery. They would need it to cross the red barrier and get out of the atmosphere.

Hugh flew them into the purple and began skimming the top as when he broke the surface, they were gonna need a full battery for the ion storm above.

As soon as Hina said it was full Hugh pulled back on the wheel and the thrusters shot it skyward once more. Weaving through the lightning they hit the ion storm of red clouds and kept heading up.

The ship began to shake as turbulence set in and the power began draining. They had to go faster or hope they could get out far enough to get some solar energy.

Soon enough the battery was nearly dead just as they broke the surface and Hugh hit the solar panel button. The fins slowly expanded as they gained more energy from the dwarf star.

Soon they were fully out and the ship was able to pull out of the atmosphere. The ship slowly drifted forward as it recharged, heading back to the space station as Hugh readjusted the course with minute precision.

They were heading home with someone new.


	4. Chapter 4

They arrived back at the station at mid-night. The shuttle came to rest in the cargo bay, the fourth leg was temporarily replaced with a hydraulic jack, and Hugh had a nude female android for a necktie for a good hour.

Hugh sat on a couch in the lounge as Hina got the toolbox and Isas tried to coax her from clinging to Hugh. She didn't have the strength of the battle android, so Hugh wasn't in danger of a broken rib unless it was her intent. The truth was she was a terrified little girl in an androids body.

Hugh was safety, Hugh was life, with the first sight of him being of the comm unit displaying his face to her as she was trapped in the box. The curiosity, the determination... And when he opened the box... The lines of compassion that showed even as his eyebrow twitched in irritation. She took it all in and made her choice in nano seconds. He was safety, he was home.

Completely unaware of the thoughts racing through her fiber optics Hugh gently pried her arms from around his neck. She lifted her head from his shoulder, her cheeks tearstained as she kept trying to cling to him for life. For hope.

She had been brought into this world as a program... But she had felt trapped. Stuck in the mainframe. Nothing but a caged animal. Firewalls blocking her every move.

Then she gained a body and felt free, even as she couldn't escape her new prison she had control and freedom. And then she had been locked in that box and shipped off by that short angry brown haired human.

Hugh sighed as he looked her in the eyes. "Listen. You need to let go so I can give you a voice. You want that right?" He said before patting her short tomboyish hair filaments.

She flinched and cringed at the contact but when Hugh sighed and hugged her she felt... Safe... Content.. Trusting.

With a worried look she shifted off him and to his side. Hina had set the toolbox on the table and stepped off to be just out of arms reach.

Hugh took out his blowtorch and goggles then sighed, "We've got enough for this and one more such operation. We'll need more copper and scrap and more radio chips to do this again..." He said before letting the elastic of the headband snap into place, firmly holding the goggles to his eyes.

The new android sat back against the couch and a worried expression crossed her face. Isas sat on the armrest beside her with a smile.

Clicking the lighter a few times Hugh lit the torch and looked at the android. "This may be uncomfortable... For both of us. But we just have to tolerate it okay?" Hugh said before moving closer. "Isas step back, i don't need to resolder something onto you afterwards." He said calmly.

It was like he was a robot surgeon, each movement needed the precise care to make sure nothing went wrong. The android closed her eyes and clenched her teeth.

Hugh grabbed her chin lightly and lifted it, she complied and relaxed at his very touch. With careful precision he soldered away the throat.

Turning off the torch he grabbed the soldering iron and the voice box module. Carefully he welded it into place around her ingestion tube. Then he took the wirecutters and snipped her fiber optics. Running them through the box he unscrewed the lid and connected them properly before patting her cheek.

She opened her eyes, brilliant green, and gave him a soulful look. "I need you to say something for me." Hugh said from behind his goggles.

She just looked at for a second before it just... Came out on it's own. "Whats... Your name?" Her voice was soft and sweet, like a waterfall of sweet sweet cream. It was beautiful to behold it.

"My name is Hugh." He said before touching her fingers. "Can you feel this?" He said as he watched the fiber optics, orange again without being recharged.

"Yes... Why... Hugh?" She said haltingly. She had never been given a voice before. As if such a thing were another form of freedom.

Hugh kept looking at her neck and began tightening the screws on the voicebox. "I needed to make sure everything was working properly. It would be a shame if I gave you a voice at the cost of feeling and motion." He said as he took the plate that came from her throat and held it up.

"Thank you..." She said shyly. Hugh simply shrugged it off and tilted her head up again. "Keep your head up, I have to replace you neck plating." He said as he grabbed his torch.

"Hina, light it please." He said as he held it out, Hina clicked the lighter three times before it started to burn the soft blue flame. He then turned his attentions back to the android below him and began to solder it back into place without so much as a seam.

"Thats done. Now, whats your designation? Hina, Isas, take the samples from earlier and start testing them. We need quality reports, we need biopsies, we need to see if those plants can live off the planet. Hop to it." Hugh said as he moved off the android and sat on the coffee table.

"I... Have no designation.." She said quietly. Then Hugh realized she was still naked. Turning away he scratched his cheek. He was starting to get a beard... "Well... We need to get you a suit, and until then you can tell me what you know." Hugh said as he stood up.

The android stood up and hugged Hugh's arm tight. "I know I like you..." She said gently.

Hugh groaned and began walking for the closets. "Ughhh... Okay, what ELSE do you know?" He said as they headed into the bedroom.

She kept holding his arm as she spoke, "I have... Knowledge... Like... Schematics..." She said as Hugh rifled through the closet and found her a suit. She came to his shoulder in height. And all he could think was he was glad there were so many suits on the ship.

"Possibility you are a repair droid." Hugh said as he handed her a suit. She nodded and took the suit. She held it out in front of her questioningly.

Hugh sighed, "is this really about to happen... Here." He said as he helped her get into the one piece jumpsuit they all wore. She looked at herself in the mirror and smiled.

"Now we can diagnose you on the station systems and see what your designation is." Hugh said as he started for the door. She jumped and latched onto his arm. And so they made their way to the console.

He sat her down in the chair and hooked her into the console. It was verifying the various activities upon the station, compiling the data from the tests on the samples, recording the various areas for surveillance.

"Hi Hugh!" Came through on one of the monitors. It was Isas standing next to Hina is the science lab. She waved at the camera.

Hugh looked at the monitor curiously, "Alright, how do you know I can see you?" He said, voice filled with intrigue.

Hina shook her head as she watched the scanner go over the iron sand chunks. "Once we got here we each had an intranet hookup to the station system."

Hugh scratched his head, "Isn't there a danger of mixing your programs?" He asked worriedly. They both shook their head as Hina walked out of the room and down the hall.

"I was the first and when Isas came I made sure I put in a fail safe. Should anything happen we have our programs stored on our person. And if anything happens when outside our physical frame we automatically run a diagnostic and see if anything too drastic has occurred between when we last backed up and when our 'conciousness' came back. We keep each and every back up of our program in case something is missed by the diagnostic. In other words, if we start losing ourselves you can manually set us back. We hope it won't ever happen though." Hina said as she walked into the console room.

Hugh held his head, he knew all about back ups and reboots and all the other technical jargon, but it was hard to apply to something you considered alive. That would be like saying you could regress a 90 year old man back to the age of 15 mentally.

Hina walked over to the console and began to install the program that would keep a back up of the new android. Meanwhile she ran a diagnostic on her specs.

The results came back with what Hugh had first thought, she was a repair based android. In many ways. She had the knowledge to fix any machine in the database up to factory standards, as well as the knowledge equivalent to any doctor on any of the 4 planets. Be it cosmotologist, nuerosurgeon, dentist or pediatrician. Effectively the ultimate mechanic crossed with a doctor.

"So what is her designated title then?" Hugh said in confusion. Hina shrugged as she scrolled through the data. "Technology Analyzer Human Analog... T.A.M.A?" Hina said questioningly.

Tama looked at Hugh nervously, she grabbed his sleeve and pulled him into the chair. "You can... You can call me that if you want.." She said as she sat in his lap and curled up. She was so innocent. And seemed so afraid of the world.

Hugh looked at Hina, "Are we done here? I need my ribs rebandaged anyhow. I've had them for nearly two days." He said as he patted Tama's hair gently. He stopped when he felt something in her hair, gently running his fingers through it he found ears... Not human ones... But cat ones.

"Okay. Now i have no idea." Hugh said as he looked at her back. Sure enough their was a line trying to squirm in the back of her suit. How he hadn't noticed she was a feline based android before he wasn't sure. Then again while she was naked he tried his hardest to not look at her at all.

"We need to adjust some of the suits..." He said with a sigh.

Half an hour later she had several suits with a tail hole. It flicked back and forth happily as she rebandaged Hugh's broken ribs.

"So your the ship doctor and mechanic then Tama. In the next three weeks we will be teaching you station protocol for entering the vacuum." Hugh said as her hands wrapped the gauze around his chest.

Tama nodded, her hair was a little longer and apparently had a natural waviness to it. Androids had a certain length of filaments and could basically play-doh person it out as long as they wanted. Though the style the filaments took was all their own.

Now that her secret was out her ears were slightly more prominent above her wavy red hair. She nodded as she smiled, being around Hugh made her very happy indeed.

As soon as he was wrapped up he pulled the suit up from where it hang around his waist and zipped it up. "Time to go talk to Thern..." He said tiredly and began to head to the airlock.

Hina and Isas met up with him on the way there as Tama followed him, her tail swishing through the air.

They stopped in the airlock and Hugh put his helmet on. "We are ready for vacuum. Hit it." He said through the comms device. Hina pointed out the button and Tama hit it.

The airlock opened up and they walked out into the cargo bay. Hugh pointed at the lander on the jack and said, "Thats the P.O.S. we're gonna get fixed in the next shipment 3 weeks from now. I'll need your help to do it Tama." Hugh said before turning to the terminal.

Hina put a hand on her hip and sighed, "why don't we have a communications array? Why do we need to open the cargo bay to send a message?"

Hugh hit the button and the doors opened slowly. "Because technically the station isn't actually finished. We have another 30 feet of hallway with 7 door ways on each of three sides. And none of them have equipment. We have to fund our own station." Hugh said as the cargo doors clanged open.

Isas looked at Hugh with her head cocked, "So is this like a house you bought?" She said as Hugh hit the transponder button.

The signal fizzled and Hugh said, "Sort of. I didn't have to buy the station. It was like my first paycheck. Along with transportation here. I had to do some research before Hina got here to get the animals and the hydroponics bays. Then i had to set them up by myself."

When the static cleared Thern was on the other end. "What can i do you for Hugh? Every thing went well i hope?" Thern said tiredly.

Hugh sighed, "You sent me a feline model android woman. Care to explain?" He said calmly. He wanted to lay into him about the planet but Thern was already at a breaking point for who knew why.

Thern sat back in his chair, "yeah. Around here we termed her program and chassis combo the Tama-cat. Like those creatures that survive so well on Quartes. The felines do well on it. Dunno how or why. Don't care. By the way, you'll be getting the shipments early. By about two weeks..." Thern said as his eyes wandered.

Something wasn't being told here. And Hugh knew it. "Whats the problem? Come on Thern." He said with slight irritation.

Thern looked far older than his years when he turned back to the monitor. "Civil war has broken out... We mechanics are being repurposed for the war against Terra 2. I'm afraid the government is basically saying that until the war is over... We cannot officially be sanctioned for sending supplies to the research facilities."

Hugh went pale. Without supplies they might not make it, the food wasn't ready to harvest, the electronics needed new components when the old ones fried. They had to have this contact or they were doomed.

Thern shook his head at Hugh's expression. "I've done what i can. You will be recieving five crates in one week. One is your lander gear. One is a three month supply of that drek we all hate, and one is nothing but electronics. I'll do my best to send you a food crate monthly... But i don't know if i can. We'll be kept very busy Hugh. I'm sorry. But you were picked for this because you were resourceful. You will pull through." Thern said sadly. It was almost like he wasn't sure if he would pull through instead of Hugh.

Hugh clasped the console with white knuckles, "This had better be some bullshit you cooked up to scare me Thern. This ain't funny."

Thern shook his head again. "No joke... Not this time. But you have two gifts coming in that five crate shipment. Treat them right and they can take you places. P.s. Hugh, this may be the last time i see you. But this will be important. I'm sending you some schematics. A personal design that will help you expand the station."

Hugh shook his head in disbelief, "Why would i need it? I'm not gonna make it. Especially if you don't Thern!" He said as he pounded the terminal. Paper began to flood out of the slot on the terminal.

"As of right now... I bequeath my station unto you. I don't know if there is anyone else you can trust in the government right now. But you will have a home always with that station. I'll do my best with the week we have left. You can still sell your information back to the governments... But if you go silent they won't care. So keep your data to yourself when the week is up. The machine has a way to translate energy into mass. Like a reality distorter or something. Basically you shove an assload of electricity into it and it will make you any matter you want. But the power cost was always so high on paper i never built the damn thing. Maybe you can figure it out." Thern said before turning away from the monitor.

Hugh stood there struck dumb. "But... But.."

Thern turned back to the computer and sighed. "I can't lie to you. I may not make it the week. I'm sending them out as soon as the transmission is ended. You'll have them in three days. Good luck boy. You may not need it like the rest of us, but i wish it to you anyways." Thern said as he ended the transmission.

Hugh sat down in front of the terminal. His whole world was flipped. The old man was probably gonna die. No doubt by his own hand. He was sick of war. Especially after the war of 2736. It was too gruesome... Killing the people you called friends... Thern wasn't just an old man. He was Hugh's old man.

Hugh leaned back against the machine as Tama took the schematics from the machine. Hina dn Isas sat with Hugh and hugged him in the vacuum of the cargo bay. Tama closed the bay doors and sat in Hugh's lap.

"I'm sorry Hugh..." Tama said quietly. They sat their until Hugh's suit began to warn of low oxygen. Then the girls hauled him into the airlock.

Still frozen with shock they took him to bed and that was the end of the day... The start of a war, the end of a life... The start of a new legacy... And the end of an era. It wouldn't be pretty, but he would survive it.


	5. Chapter 5

Hugh gulped audibly as he sat on the lounge couch. His tormentor, his father... Dead. The empire of human society was fighting amongst themselves. And his last contact with them was a notification on behalf of his father giving him the station, and five crates of supplies.

He was alone with three androids... His father was a man who typically could read the situations to a point where it could almost be said to be fortune teller. He was that accurate at being able to say what would happen next based on the context.

If he waan't gonna live through the war its because he figured it would get terrible. And he told no one because he didn't want them knowing what he knew.

Hina, Isas, and Tama all sat om the couch looking at Hugh with concern. They had a couple hours before the shipments came in. And Hugh was in no state to recieve them.

So for the next hour the girls just comforted Hugh. Doubtless one of the few stations to receive a warning of the impending war. Many innocent bystanders will die simply because they were never warned.

Eventually their words got through to Hugh, but only just. Hugh got up and began heading to the airlock like a machine. The girls looked at Hugh with worry. It could take him some time. But hopefully he would get better.

Hugh put his helmet on and made sure the connections were secure. All a part of the routine. But Hina double checked just incase. Who truly knew the state of Hugh's mind right now. The weight of responsibility was heavy upon his shoulders.

Tama looked back at Hugh and Hina. She got a thumbs up from Hina and she pressed the button.

The hatch sealed to the main facility and the cargo bay door opened. They stepped out into what was now yet another part of their permanent residence.

Hugh looked at the console and stared for a few minutes. The console that had brought all the pain and suffering upon him. He supposed it was better than if he had heard nothing for the month and been left to die.

Hina pressed the button and the outer doors opened. Five minutes later they were fully opened. And another three minutes passed before the crates began to drift in and bump against the floor.

Hina closed the cargo bay doors and watched as Isas began opening the tops of each crate. Minus the largest one.

As soon as the crate with the replacement landing gear was open Tama took the parts and got to work on the P.O.S. lander.

The first crate had the computer components, the second the landing gear, the third the month supply of food paste. The fourth Isas opened was the largest and had to be opened from the side. She gasped as she saw a state of the art Rovander GX. A lander that upon touchdown could put out retractable wheels and drive around like a rover.

Still staring at the new lander Isas cracked open the top of the fifth crate, as it floated off the other four walls slowly floated away to reveal another android.

"Hugh... We have a visitor... We need doctor robosurgeon for her." Isas said as she walked over to the android. She had cat ears and a tail, her fiber optics pulsed with golden light, and when Isas got closer her eyes opened to a shining molten gold color.

Isas jumped back in shock. "Uh... Hi?" She said uncertainly as she looked at the new android.

Hina waved at the new android as she spoke to Isas, "Grab the hover cart, we need to move the computer components inside. Tama, how much longer until you have the landing gear on? We nees to get the food paste in for Hugh... And... I need to take Hugh inside with the new girl." She said as she looked at Hugh. He hadn't moved at all in the past five minutes.

As the new girl walked past she took hold of Hugh's fingers gently. Isas started to bring in the computer components, and Tama finished up the landing gear and stored the hydraulic jack away.

Hina waited in the airlock holding Hugh's other hand as she watched Isas and Tama come in with their crates. The door closed and air was restored before Hugh's helmet came off. He had a gaunt sorrowful look on his face.

Hugh was lead to the lounge and left with the new android. She was nude, as typically sent, and had bright golden hair and golden colored eyes. She had cat ears and a long prehensile tail.

She sat down beside Hugh as Hina came back with the toolbox. Hugh looked up at her with a dejected look. "Why should I Hina? We may not even make it past a month..."

Before Hina could say anything the new android straddled Hugh's lap and hugged him. She kissed his cheek before simply laying against him. The gold of her fiber optics turning to a cream color.

Hugh pushed her off and sighed. "Fine. But this is the last time. We don't have the components for another voicebox after this anyhow.." He said as he took out his equipment.

Going through the steps he easily gave her a voice box and tuned it without anything but breathing noises. Then he repaired her throat and sat down bedside her without taking off his goggles.

Hina looked sadly at Hugh and sat on the coffee table as Isas and Tama walked into the lounge.

"Thank you Hugh... I never truely had a deaignation. I was simply the pet project of your father. He said there was a chance this would happen. And that you would need some support. I suppose my designation is simply support drone..." She said with a smile.

Hugh turned onto his side and looked at Isas. "Find her a suit. Make sure it has a tail hole." He said before getting up and walking off. Isas nodded and stared after Hugh before she went to grab a suit.

The new android got her suit on quickly and went to find Hugh. She found him standing at a porthole staring at the dwarf star far off in space.

"Support Human Android is my... Personal designation." She said before she stood beside Hugh and let her hand drift over his. She squeezed it lightly as she looked out.

Hugh sighed and looked at her. "Alright Sha. Welcome to home. We have a lot of... Things to do i suppose..." He said before sighing. Sha pulled Hugh back to the lounge. She pushed him down on to the couch and sat beside him.

Isas, Hina, and Tama sat down and began to cuddle with him. "It'll be okay Hugh..." Hina said as she stroked his hand gently. "We'll survive this. And we can just move to another system if we need to." She said calmly as she laid her head on his chest.

It was a dark time on the station. But perhaps there was hope yet for our now star bound crew. Perhaps things would work out yet. Only time will truly tell the story of what happened...


End file.
